Bartessa 2
by Atomius
Summary: The long awaited sequel to 'Bartessa', originally published in 2009. It is six years in the future and much has changed for Simpson and Doofenshmirtz. Mister burns went mad with power and left Springfield in a state of destruction.


**Bartessa 2**

**The Long Awaited Sequel**

**By Mark Kochan March 2013**

_Chapter One_

_An extraordinarily coincidental happenstance_

Bart Simpson looked up from his comic book with a feigned air of attentiveness. He didn't really care, but he was in that state of mind where one will give heed to any bit of talk one hears, as though the sound of a fellow human were a fresh experience, unknown and exotic. He was slowly drifting back into reality when a word spoken alerted him and he sat upright, this time his attention was authentic, and directed at the passenger seated next to him on the Airbus A380, his sister Lisa.

"What was that, Lisa?" asked Bart, thinking he must have misheard her.

"I said I think we're almost ready to land now, and that we have to _move our chairs_ into upright position"

"Oh… I thought you said Doofenshmirtz"

"Why would I say… Oh wait, that was the name of that babysitter we had six years ago"

"Yeah… I thought you mentioned Vanessa"

"No. Look the signs lit up now, you have to put your seat up"

The plane hit the tarmac with a thud, and continued to thud along the mile or so of runway until it came to a near stop, then taxied into place beside the communicating corridor. Bart looked out of the window (he was in a window seat), and saw snow lying on the ground. It was mid-winter, and there had been some uncertainty whether the plane would be able to land due to the heavy falls.

Bart and his sister walked along the corridor and out into the terminal, and after a brief customs check and baggage claim, they went to the tube station. It was in the morning, and the train was packed with commuters, all dressed thickly for the weather. They took the train to Green Park, where, after a short wait, they changed to another and arrived soon after at Victoria.

Bart and his sister had done much in the six years since Vanessa had parted ways with her friend and moved back to Danville. Mr Burns had gone mad with power and Smithers had fleed to the Simpsons residence to escape his tyrannical wildness. The power plant had burned down, and the town had been evacuated. They had erected a shanty town some miles away, and there Lisa and Bart had spent the last year and a half. The government being too involved in a new war in the middle east region to have any money available to help the people of Springfield, 'New Springfield' had run into many problems.

Crime had run rampant, and Fat Tony had slain Homer and Marge along with Maggie, the Flanders and many others, when the citizens tried to revolt against mob rule. Bart and Lisa had escaped the town and, with what money their parents had managed to keep hidden from the gangsters, had bought two tickets to London to start afresh. Little did Bart know that another who had faced a fresh start in a new town was on the same plane, just ten rows behind him.

For Heinz Doofenshmirtz, failing in so many criminal enterprises, had finally decided to give up and lead a peaceful life as he had contemplated doing for some time. Major Monogram having finally delivered a hamper that was not in vain accepted, and Perry having put up his Fedora and spy gear for retirement, Vanessa had been given the chance to lead a normal life. Heinz had told his daughter she had much wealth gained through evil, and that it was her decision how to use it. She had decided to move abroad and seek a fresh start.

Walking along the platform at Victoria, Vanessa glanced at her watch, which she had taken off to reset to Greenwich Mean Time. It shone in the artificial light, and she was conscious of a feeling of being watched. Before she could react, a hardy thief came at her, snatched the silver Doofenshmirtz heirloom (her great great great grandfather on her father's side had been a watchmaker) and ran away through the thick peak hour crowd.

"Oh great…", She thought. "There goes the one connection I still had to the old me. Well I guess it's time I moved on"

She took out her wallet, and from within pulled out a small picture of a boy. She wrote to him regularly, and they had remained good friends, although he had since grown up and changed much. The once quiet and reclusive Ferb Fletcher had turned into, through guidance and encouragement by his teachers, a brilliant scientific mind, and was embarking on an important feat of research into the nature of matter. They had once had feelings for one another, but while they still corresponded, she no longer felt he was the one.

For six years ago she had met another, a boy named Bart Simpson. She and Bart had had a wonderful friendship and understanding, and she missed him sorely. They had made the, now much regretted, decision to go their separate ways, as they felt it would be for the best, and she was still unsure regarding her feelings for Fletcher. But now, looking at another photograph, that had been slipped under the first, she knew. She knew that she would, could not, replace Bart. She knew then that Bart meant everything to her. And she realised he was several thousand miles away.

The train was about to leave. She got in just as the doors were closing, and found it very packed, but at last found a vacant seat. She placed her single suitcase in the rack above, and sat down, turning to stare out of the window at the moving commuters, like so many grains of sand in an hourglass. And then, although at first she couldn't believe it, she saw what appeared to be a boy with a remarkable similarity in appearance and manner to Simpson. What a coincidence. What an extraordinary coincidence. Utterly inconceivably extraordinary. But real.

And then, with a sudden jolt of realisation, she knew it _was _Bart. But how could it be? Who cared. He was there. In the flesh. Walking towards the carriage she was in. Did he notice her? How could he, with all those people walking and talking and bumping into one another.

"Oh no!", she thought. "He'll never make it now, the doors have locked shut!"

But, as if in answer to her unspoken prayer, the guard looked outside, beamed in recognition of his girlfriend, and opened the door, through which Bart made a hurried and apologetic entry, having matured a touch in the past six years. His sister followed, likewise profuse in apology, for they had known the train was leaving.

"Betty- fancy seeing you here!" said Stan, the guard.

"Stan, what an awful uniform they've given you! You look like a policeman in that!" replied his girlfriend, who was chewing gum in a highly un-British manner.

"Cor Betty, you simply must see this- I never thought we'd meet at work, but this is the thing I use to speak to the passengers. Now this nob here, it controls…"

And so he continued, and went on to receive his girlfriend's explanation as to her presence, having gone into town to buy something. They had only met at weekends, being both very busy. Vanessa ignored them, although the passengers awaiting the trains starting up were less patient, for it was Stan's job to signal to the driver all was right to move along. Stan and Betty finally let the train go, and moved off into an adjoining carriage. Just then Bart and Lisa sat down. In the seats behind Miss Doofenshmirtz's.

"Well Bart, here we go. A new life for both of us, in a new country. Isn't this… exciting?"

"You sound unconvinced by your own pitch" replied Bart.

"Well… In this past year and a half it's not exactly been a pleasant time for any of us… I sure hope Mr Burns gets what he's asking for… I never thought he could be that evil"

"They say he's gone insane…"

"Well yes I suppose that could be a possibility. But what he did was unforgiveable"

"Maybe you're right Lisa… Let's not discuss these things anyway. I'll just go put our things up on the luggage rack"


End file.
